Quintana's 7 scoreless innings wasted; Sox lose

Jose Quintana's ERA against the Indians is 0.95 over four appearances. AP PHOTO

CLEVELAND -- White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana was close to perfect in seven innings of work.

Justin Masterson was even better.

The Indians right-hander pitched nine scoreless innings, and Cleveland defeated the White Sox 1-0 on Nick Swisher's line single to right against reliever Jesse Crain that scored Michael Bourn from third with two outs in the ninth. It was the Sox' fourth loss in a row.

Quintana, moved back a day to match up against the Indians because of his success against them in 2012, bounced back from a rough outing against the Mariners by allowing one hit, a double by Michael Brantley in the second inning. Quintana also hit Swisher in the fourth.

"That's as good as I think I have ever seen him,'' Sox manager Robin Ventura said.

"He was great today and that's the story.''

The Sox had limited chances against him. Alexei Ramirez led off the sixth with a single but was thrown out stealing by catcher Yan Gomes. Conor Gillaspie (2-for-3) led off the eighth with a double but got no farther than third. Ramirez popped out trying to bunt him over for the first out.

"You're not playing for multiple runs, you just need to get somebody on third and have a chance to get someone in there,'' said Ventura, whose team is 9-for-62 with runners in scoring position. "It just didn't happen."

After Matt Thornton pitched a scoreless eighth, Crain started the ninth and gave up a soft double down the left-field line to Bourn with one out. Bourn advanced to third on a ground out.

Quintana, who threw 98 pitches was 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA against Cleveland last season.